Flying Vs Falling
by jellyheart84
Summary: Regina and Emma learn when they touch, they can fly. But will their nighttime escapades lead to Emma falling to her death? Or worse, in love?
1. Chapter 1: She's Trying to Fly Again

It was easy to hear the distant screaming in the woods. After all, there was nothing to interfere: you never heard a train whistle, or a plane move overhead, or the foggy bellow of a boat pulling away from harbor. Since the curse has broken, Storybrooke is isolated, everyone is trapped inside, peering at each other from the windows. There's a truce as long as no one can leave, a truce that involves ignoring the Evil Queen. Emma pointed to pools when she and Henry went on walks like the hike today and said "This is stagnant water, it's not good to drink. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out, you know? No bueno." And thought, morosely, of how trapped in one she was herself.

The screams had cut off their little outdoors ramble though, and Emma walked across the rooty ground, Henry tripping over his feet to catch up with her. She spun around, shaking her head. "You stay here kiddo, until I figure out what's wrong, okay?" Henry nodded and Emma hurried closer to the cries.

"Somebody, HELP! Somebody!"

Emma saw the chasm in the woods yawning in front of her for almost a quarter of a mile. A distant memory of something Snow had said once about almost falling of a cliff in the middle of the woods, when she was trying to return some bird to the shelter, floated back to Emma's mind. Clearly the perimeter of Storybrooke was defined by threats: an uncrossable line on side, an un-spannable chasm on the other.

Unbelievably, a white knuckled hand was clutching a root at the top of the cliff. A hand trembling with effort. Someone was clinging to the side of the cliff.

"Hey! I got you! I got you, help is on the way!" Emma fell to her knees and grabbed the long, extended arm of none other than Regina. She met the mayor's terrified gaze with a moment of shock and looked away, leaning forward, hooking her foot into a root, putting her mind to the logistics of the situation. With another pull, she had leveraged Regina to the edge of the cliff and pulled the small woman almost on top of her, falling back against the ground, Regina so close on top of her she could feel the tickle of her eyelashes against her neck. Regina scrambled into a seating position, still shaking violently, looking back at the cliff and then to Emma.

"Well, Miss Swan." She managed at last. "Just when I thought we were even."

"You're welcome." Emma said brusquely, looking at the shivering woman across from her, whose expensive clothes were lashed with stripes of mud and dew.

"Here." She took off her leather jacket and draped it over Regina's shoulders, rising before Regina could hand it back. "Henry's waiting for me. I'm glad we were out here."

"Yes. As am I." Regina stood on shaky legs and shook her hair out of her face. She was still shaking. "Good day, Miss Swan. Tell Henry hello for me."

And she turned, her small shoulders back, and marched through the trees.

"I think she's trying to fly again." Henry said later, when they sat across from each other at Granny's, sharing a basket of fries. "She told me last week she used to be able to. Her magic doesn't work close to the edge of town."

"Oh really?" Emma's eyebrows went up. "I guess that cliff is right on the town line…" she made a mental note to check the framed town map in her office.

"She used to be able to fly in fairy tale land, she told me." Henry's tone was soft and his face a bright pink, embarrassed as usual when he revealed how secretly impressed he was by his adoptive mom. "Back when she was at her strongest, the most powerful sorceress in the land."

"I've flown a few times myself." Emma said nonchalantly. "Delta, Southwest."

It was hard to imagine someone so buttoned down shooting through the air. Never a hair out of place, never a trenchcoat unbelted, never a stocking marred. Yet Regina flew through Emma's dreams that night, dark hair tumbling, fingers outstretched, clothes flying tight against her figure. She woke up from her dream and tossed around on the couch, then sat up, unable to get the images out of her mind.

"Hell with this." She said at last, snapping on the light and crossing from the couch to the kitchen counter, pulling idly at her white tank top and underpants. Snow and Charming were having a "honeymoon weekend" at Granny's, so she didn't have to worry about waking them. Henry was at Regina's for the night, lucky kid.

"Shut up brain." Emma muttered, pouring an inch of whisky into a jelly jar glass, and walking to the window. What if the silhouette of Regina passed between her and full moon? "I mean it, brain."

Sip, sip, sip…and suddenly she was holding her phone. Scrolling to "Evil Q" and suddenly the dial tone was going off her in ear. Regina was already laughing as she picked up the call, her rich voice filled Emma's ear.

"Miss Swan! Henry and I were in the middle of a game of chutes and ladders, so this better be important."

"It's way past his bedtime."

"Well, it's hardly a school night since Snow and the other teachers stopped working."

"Har har. Who's winning?"

"Me, of course." Emma heard Henry burst out laughing at this and Regina chuckled. "Okay fine, Henry is seriously devastating me at this game. He might be using magic."

"Can I come play?"

A long pause.

"You do kind of owe me one." Emma kept her tone playful, hoping it would make her seem less desperate.

"We'll see you soon Miss Swan."

By the time she threw on some jeans and walked over, Henry had conked out fast asleep, and Regina looked more relaxed than she'd ever seen her, wearing silky pajama bottoms and a warm fluffly sweater hanging over a soft tank top, her hair loose around her face. No make up for her night with Henry, Emma saw, and the Mayor looked disarmingly girlish without it. Henry was balled up on the couch, a gamepiece still in his hand. Regina let her carry him up to his room and put him in bed, following a few steps behind, and then the two women sat in the kitchen awkwardly, Regina busying herself picking up the various board games she and Henry had blown through after a handmade pizza (Emma snuck a nibble of a crust)and several sodas. Regina, following her gaze, looked up, her eyes already snapping.

"Yes, okay, I let him have soda now when he comes over. I also let him have candy. I'm trying to compete with Snow White and Prince Charming and the Saviour, okay? I get a little wiggle room."

"Compete with us? Hell, none of us can fly." Emma smiled. Regina froze and looked up.


	2. Chapter 2: Don't Let Me Go

In the soft light of the kitchen she looked years younger, Emma could imagine what Reginas had looked like as a teenager, when she was still capable of being intimidated. Then her face settled back into its crisp, composed lines and she raised her eyebrows wryly.

"Looks like we're raising a tattle tale."

"There's nothing wrong with it. I mean we've got dwarves, fairies, princesses, amnesiac librarians. A flying Queen isn't really that unthinkable anymore."

Regina gave her a long piercing look, the kind you'd give someone just before either slapping them across the face or sweeping them off their feet with a kiss. But Regina did neither. She sat down the box of sorry pieces she was picking up and crossed her arms.

"Let's go up to the roof. I'll show you."

In the moonlight (and from three stories up) Storybrooke looked very different. Not as shabby as close up, yet much smaller too, fenced in by woods that billowed like waves on one side, the ocean on the other. The wind pulled through the tree tops around them and danced the leaves off the branches. The stars were thick above them. Regina, too, looked different in the moonlight. It put a blue shine in her hair, it matched her eyes so well they disappeared into the sky, their black melting into the ether, their sparkle matching the stars.

Emma watched, her stomach in a knot, as Regina walked with confident steps to the very edge of the roof. She turned herself around to face Emma. "Watch." She called over the wind, turned again and stepped into air.

Emma screamed, but in a puff of purple smoke Regina was back again beside her, laughing hysterically, her eyes pieces of quicksilver. "Got you, Miss Swan. Your face right now! Did I give you a heart attack?" Emma was trembling all over.

"You're the worst." Emma mumbled, hugging herself in the cold air. "That's not flying."

"It's not flying, you're right. I used to be able to fly, before..." She shrugged. " I tried after Gold brought magic back and found myself hurtling toward the ground and had to apparate back to safety. Having that kind of safety net made me try that jump the other day."

"You were trying to LEAP that chasm in the woods?" Emma felt a weird awe and sorrow at the recklessness. "Seriously? Are you crazy!?"

"I didn't realize I couldn't apparate on the town line. Luckily I managed to grab some kind of limb and pull myself to where you found me."

"Where were you going?"

"Anywhere." Regina said darkly. She leaned into the wind and stared up again at the stars, hugging her own thin shoulders with a self-sufficient gesture that made Emma sigh. "I've heard things about Paris. I like the clothes from there."

"What about losing your magic? And all your memories?"

Regina shrugged. "Henry hates my magic. And I…I hate my memories." She looked sternly at Emma. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"If you're trying to kill yourself, Regina, I won't allow. I'll haul you off to jail right now-"

"And how will you keep me behind the bars?" Regina smiled curiously, putting her hands on her hips. "You don't really think things through, do you?"

"Neither do you, if you're throwing yourself into a cliff right on the town line."

Regina bristled. "I had a whole plane. I wrote a letter to myself before I jumped with Henry's picture. I thought if I could remember him and forget everything else, it could be a fresh start."

"And the rest of us can just clean up your mess, huh?"

Regina snarled, turned and stepped past the edge of the house, hurtling downward.

"Stop!" cried Emma, just as Regina apparated again beside her. "Knock it off, you really are going to give me a heart attack."

"Promises promises." sneered Regina. She was so much more wild in the night. Her hair was blowing around her face, just like in Emma's dream. Her smile was wicked and kindled an anxious flame in Emma, just like in the dream. Regina spun around again, launching off and Emma grabbed her wrist with a shaky hand.

"I said ENOUGH!" Emma roared.

Regina's face was slack with shock. She looked down, Emma too: her feet were hovering three stories above the ground, floating, kicking through the wind like a little kid clinging to the side of the deep end of a pool

" What did you do?" Regina's voice was curious, with a hint of fear. "Unhand me, Sheriff."

"If I do you'll fall, you know that right?" Emma was curt, trying not to be too transfixed by Regina's small feet, toes pointed, dangling over the shadowy backyard below.

"Wait…don't move- let me try something-" Regina called, the wind lashing her hair across her face. Emma tried not to let her heart leap too much as Regina took Emma's hand in hers and pulled herself further up, kicking her legs straight out behind her. She moved through the air as though she were underwater, in another moment she was dangling straight up, anchored by Emma's hand, silouhetted by the full moon behind her, laughing girlish delighted peals of laughter that were the most free sound Regina had ever heard. Emma looked up, and then heard Regina gasp.

"Emma, look down."

Emma's feet were still flat, as though standing, but the scratchy brown tiles of the roof, blue in the moonlight, were at least two feet below her. She could see their shadows, blurred a little in the soft moonlight, but undeniably describing two free floating figures hand in hand, like a pair of ballroom dancers just before a dance.

"What am I doing?!" Emma was shot through with fear. "How do I get back down?!"

Regina's face was ringed with starry sky. "I think you let go of me."

Emma gulped, then shook her head. "Apparate us back. Both of us."

A sound in her ears like the snap of expensive fabric, and they were back on the roof, apart, Regina's arms crossed, staring at her with a smirk. And something else, something else deep inside those eyes that Emma couldn't read.

"So can you fly, Miss Swan?"

Emma shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out." Regina looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you." Emma's eyebrows shot up, but at the hurt in Regina's face put out her arm. "Look, I'll give it a try-" she bent down a little and then hopped heavily onto the roof, with a single desultory arm flap.

Regina wordlessly put out her hand. Emma grabbed it and hopped again. Wind filled her ears and she found herself watching her motorcycle boots drift effortlessly up from the roof, with a twist of her torso she could make their rough, scarred heels dig at the constellations. She realized she was laughing, she could hear the sound in her ears, it sounded like a younger version of herself. She turned to look at Regina, who was floating as well above the roof again. Regina's eyes appealed to her, and she nodded yes.

Regina walked out into thin air, and they rose above the clouds, hands clasped together, and started running through the wind.

"Look, I don't like you and you don't like me." Regina said when they finally stopped to rest on the lip of the clock tower. In easy view of their perch, they were watching the water beyond the pier begin to turn the palest pink from the first breath of dawn creeping across the horizon. The air itself seemed to be blue and hung thick on the town below them. Up where they were, some stars still gleamed. "But surely we can reach some kind of deal where we do this again. I can pay you by the hour if you want or-"

"You don't have to pay me. I want to do this again." Emma whispered. "I've got to." She thought of a certain moment, a tide of air had swept underfoot and Regina had rolled into her, clutching her with a giddy scream of fear. "Don't let me go!" she had cried wildly, squeezing Emma around the waist. "I'm falling, I'm falling!" but Emma's arms were tight around her. "No you're not, I've got you."

The moment made her cheeks turn red and she tried to push it out of her mind. She could live in it later.

"Tonight then?" Regina asked, staring straight ahead. "Can we do this again tonight?"

Emma nodded, reached over and took her hand. "Yeah. But it's getting light. Let's go home."


	3. Chapter 3: Trust Falls

Emma sat in the station, flipping through several websites, aware her coffee and muffin were now cold beside the keyboard. She had found all the information on "flying" and "flying hallucinations" she could. Invariably they seemed to link back to witchcraft. Which did not sit well with her.

She searched "lucid dreams" but she didn't remember waking up. Only setting down on the roof, tip toing across the carpet, past Henry's room, and then driving home with her adrenaline keeping her strangely bouyant. It wasn't until after she showered and put on a fresh outfit to face the day in that the weariness had set in. She looked around furtively. What were the odds that she could grab a twenty minute snooze on the old cot in Storybooke's holding cell?

She fought weariness, her eyes burning. She kept it together until three at which point she called it a day, got Henry home, from school, crawled into bed, and lost herself in a dreamless sleep until her phone alarm went off after dark.

"We take turns." Regina said. "First you get to pick a place, then I get to pick a place."

Regina won the coin toss and Emma felt a moment's trepidation, imagining the practical applications of flying around Storybrooke for someone with mischief in mind. Would they end up spying on Mr. Gold's shop? Retrieving his dagger from some secret place? Persecuting some as-yet unknown enemy of the Evil Queen.

"Follow my lead." Regina said, as they started to float off the roof top. She had worn a black shirt and leggings so that she disappeared into the sky. "You really should wear a hat next time. Your hair glows in the dark, you know." She furrowed her brows.

"Why do we need to hide? Where are we going?" Emma pulled back a little , sending them spinning in a lazy curve as they bobbed toward the large oak by Henry's room. She could feel her face fall into its familiar grimace, and Regina stared at her blankly for a moment, weighing her distrust.

"You'll see." Regina had a little edge to her voice. A little dare.

Emma could always refuse, jerk them back, to a place where she wouldn't fall quite so she could see where it went.

The trees in the dark sounded like a rushing river below them, the call of nightbirds sang over her shoulder: owls, hawks crossed paths with them, and with careful maneuvers they dodged clouds heavy with rain. "There."

Through the dense branches of the trees, with a sound like muffled thunder, a white foamy cataract two stories high falling from a cliff. A waterfall in Storybrooke? They landed on dark rocks at the very top, and watched the water pulled inexorably faster on the bring of the cliff and then fly in a freefall down to earth below them. The view itself made Emma's stomach twist in knots and clench Regina's hand.

"When I was Queen, we had a waterfall- much taller than this- near the palace. I used to let myself leap down and then fly away at the last moment." Regina's eyes were wide and the spray was catching in diamondlike droplets in her hair. "It's terrifying." She smiled ecstatically, her lips dark with red lipstick. Regina the adrenaline junkie? That didn't fit with what she knew about her at all. Emma shook her head almost against her own will and took a step back. "How do I know you won't just let go of my hand and whisk yourself to safety?" Emma said suddenly, feeling her voice come as from far away.

"What, kill you?" Regina looked stunned, the silence filled wit hteh roar of the falls, but then her face resumed its masklike self-possession. "Miss Swan, believe me, if I wanted you dead -"

"How do I know I can trust you?" Emma whispered.

"I see being the so-called Savior of a pack of misfit yokels has rather inflated your sense of self importance." Regina's words were crisp and curt. "While I congratulate you on the boost in ego, you're flattering yourself. And you're cutting into my turn."

The rocks below were wet and sharp and sliced through the torrent of rushing water that billowed around their base.

Emma pulled out the thick leather belt around her waist and put her arm out, motioning for Regina to do the same. Regina rolled her eyes but silently put her arm next to Emma's. Emma pulled the belt tight and latched it, not making eye contact with Regina, feeling her face hot with a blush in the dark.

"On three." Regina said as they drifted to the middle of the waterfall and hovered just where the moonlit drops scattered off the edge. "One…two…three"

Roller coasters were a yawn compared to this: the sickening free fall, and then the lurch, the sense of power, swinging upward with the horizon line in front of you, feeling the spray chase you as you impossibly broke from inevitable doom. All the momentum from the drop, with a simple change in direction sent them flying out over the rushing water, spray soaking their hair, fingers gripped together, both laughing maniacally as they let themselves flop onto nearby grass that smelled like night and woods.

The third time they'd leapt and were catching their breath in the flattened grass of the bank, Regina held up their arms, still belted together. "Want to see something cool?" Regina said, and suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. She appeared on the other side of Emma, a triumphant smile on her face. Wordlessly, Emma threw the belt aside, reached over and took her hand, and they soared towards the top of the waterfall again.

"Henry tells me he's spent the last couple night at Regina's."

Emma, who had until now been ignoring Snow's idle chatter and staring out at Granny's with glazed-over eyes snapped to attention and examined her young mother's face closely. Snow was gently smiling, both hands around hermug of herb tea.

"Were you hosting some overnight guests or?"

"Wow!" Emma laughed too loud. "Not really. But he does have a TV and his DVR over there so…"

"And an evil psychopath who thinks she's his mother." Snow was still smiling but her eyes slightly widened.

"Look, Regina's a very complicated person but one thing she is not is a bad mom. I'm starting to think if she got to spend more time with him she'd actually mellow out a little."

"Or introduce him to magic." Snow put her mug down and leaned in, dropping her voice. "I love that you can see good in people, Emma, but we've given Regina chance after chance after chance. And we might start getting Henry used to the idea of not seeing her as much as he does now."

Her heartrate shot up, Emma held her face still as though Snow could hear it thudding from where she sat across the table. "Why?...anything I should know?"

Snow's voice dropped to almost a whisper although Granny's was almost empty, looking briefly around before hunching further forward and putting a gloved hand over Emma's. "Your father and I have been talking to Mr. Gold about getting Regina across the town line. Erasing her magic, and her memory. You could drive her out along the highway and drop her off once we've subdued her. She could have a fresh start, and we wouldn't have to worry about Henry being exposed to her anymore." Her eyes edged with happy tears as though she was giving Emma a gift. Emma sat back, unsure how to react.

"Aside from the fact that's basically murder, how are you planning to subdue her? She's way too powerful -"

"Mr. Gold has a potion he says."

"Mr. Gold?! Seriously?! Since when do we trust Rumple freaking siltskin ? And what's his price?"

"I don't care what the price is. And he's Henry's grandfather. He's family."

"Don't give me that. He barely knows Neal and he doesn't know Henry." Emma snapped before she could stop herself.

Snow sat back, looking startled by Emma's cold reaction. "Emma, we need you to help us. You're the only one who could drive her out to the highway without the curse effecting your memory."

"You know what, having actually been left on the side of the highway myself, I wouldn't do that to my own worst enemy." Emma snapped, sliding out of the booth. She didn't even look back as she charged out of the diner.


	4. Chapter 4: Castles in the Air

For the first time Emma felt grateful Storybrooke had no nightlife. The streets were theirs. It was soon easy to move in sync and jump from the top of one streetlamp to another, fingers braided. They wordlessly learned the art of leaning together to propel away from the rare lit window or wide-eyed flash of headlights. But no matter how long they spent clipping over the vaulted roofs, reaching out to spin the weathervanes with a lazy flick of the wrist and swerving just outside the halo of the streetlamps, they always returned to the woods. Emma tugged Regina toward the peaks of the children's playground Regina had erected when Emma first came to Storybrooke.

"So what." Emma said as they walked, hands apart, through a swing set. "Is this based on like, an actual castle?" Regina put a hand on her hip and looked at the children's playground. There was always a moment Regina needed when they got back on solid ground before she could speak. It was so different when they were up in the sky, and Regina was wild and giddy.  
"I mean, you used to all live in a castle, right?" Emma snorted, lounging back on a child's swing. Regina rolled her eyes and daintily sat next to her.

"We can stand around and talk in daylight hours, Sheriff Swan. All this chitchat is wasting our flying time."

"But we don't." Emma stuttered. "We never talk in daylight. I don't see you anymore."  
Regina looked at her, eyebrows stuck together, poised to say something stinging, but stopped, and sat herself delicately on the swing next to Emma.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Regina managed. Emma shrugged.

"I don't know. What was it like being royalty? What was Snow's dad like…was he anything like Henry?-"  
Regina's mouth twists in distaste and she settled on the edge of the tower, looking down at the playground, her dark eyes blank.

"You shouldn't ask me that question. Snow's father didn't exactly show his best face to his Queens. He had very specific expectations and if you didn't meet them he didn't want to see you. Ask the princess if he even came to her own mother's funeral. He wasn't…" she paused. "He very much wanted a son. That's why he remarried. He didn't think he could trust his throne to a Princess."

"Why not?" Emma asked, leaning forward, her cheek pressing into the cold chain of the swing.

"Even in your own world people don't trust a woman with power, Emma. Of course, once a woman was in control- I'm talking about me-" she raised her eyebrows sardonically. " –remarkably, the Kingdom had its best years. I fixed our tax problems, I ended our border wars. People prospered." A little smile crept into her face. "My personal life may have been a mess, but you ask your dear mother if a single child soldier was sent to fight an ogre, as happened in old Rumplestilstkin's day. Ask her if a single arrow had to be fired in defense of our Kingdom. Yes, I was the Evil Queen. And because of what I was, no one messed with my subjects."

"Until you brought them here." Emma said gruffly.

"Better that than watching an impostor Prince who knew more about sheep than state grind everything I worked for into the ground." Regina got up and smoothed her skirt. "I'm going home."  
Emma put out her hand, but Regina kept moving past her. "Thanks, but I think I'll walk."  
"Come, on, I'm sorry-" Emma hurried to keep up with her, and took her arm. The two women hovered over the pavement at the moment of contact. Regina jerked her arm away and they landed hard. Emma felt her teeth chatter at the drop.

"Look, I don't want to live in the past." Emma said.  
"Me neither. But unfortunately that is exactly what I have to do every minute of the day until we-" Regina swallowed. "Until we're together."  
"Do you still think about crossing the town line and erasing your memory?" Emma asked quietly, walking alongside her.  
"These last few days have changed that a little." Regina stared straight ahead, and Emma worried she was imagining the words, or imagining the implication, but Regina shot her a hard look over her shoulder. "A very little. And if we're not going to fly, then-"

"Oh come here." Emma growled, and threw her arm around Regina's waist, then pushed off, making them both soar upwards and break through the treetops. Regina gave a small laugh of surprise and turned in toward Emma, giggling like a kid at the sudden release from the world below.

* * *

The next night was technically Regina's turn, but Emma put both hands up.

"Please can we just stop at this one place, really fast, first?" Emma grimaced, blinking her large eyes fast.

"Sheriff Swan, we have a turn system that-"

"It's still your turn, I just want to stop one place for like ten minutes. Please. Pleeease. You can have tomorrow night's turn too!"

"Tomorrow night? My word, don't you ever intend on sleeping again?" Regina put her hands on her hips. They had seen each other every night since they figured out they could fly and Emma, truth be told, was a zombie during the day. But as soon as she stepped out onto Regina's windy roof she felt wide awake.

"Fine, Sheriff." Said Regina at last, with a slight scowl. "Although I can certainly see where Henry gets his talent for wheedling."

Emma felt Regina tug a little when she wound towards the rooftop of the apartment building she shared with Snow. Emma stared at the rooftop, just hoping some of the candles were still lit.

* * *

Emma clattered onto the roof and made sure Regina was standing on solid ground before letting go of her hand and indicating a table with two chairs, two wine glasses, a bottle of champagne in a sandpail filled with ice cubes, surrounded by rows of tea lights. Regina crossed her arms.

"Surprise?" Emma said weakly.

"What kind of surprise?" snapped Regina, looking suspiciously at the bottle. "Are you trying to poisen me?"

Emma sighed deeply. "I was more hoping to get you buzzed. Mildly buzzed." Emma held up her hand, forefinger and thumb an inch apart. "Little buzzed."

Regina walkd around the set up, surveying it like a crime scene. "I'm afraid I don't approve of drunk flying, Emma."

"We can talk for a while, then get back to flying." Emma pulled out a chair.

"More interogations?" Regina muttered.

"No. About anything. About your day. About Henry's first words and first haircut."

"It was 'mama'." Regina dropped down into the chair with a slight smile. "That was Henry's first word." She looked up at Emma, who was re-lighting some of the tea lights on the table that had been blown out by the wind. "No one's ever asked me that before." She took a match from the pack and helped Emma. "So why the candles?"

"The better to see you with." Emma smiled.


	5. Chapter 5: Champagne, Breakfast

Regina gets funnier when she gets buzzed. Her whirl of stories about Henry as a baby got spliced with unreal anecdotes from her days at court. Emma found herself hearing about a joust gone wrong and then a loving description of Henry's first pair of sneakers (they lit up when he hopped.) Emma found herself also not listening sometimes and merely staring across the table at Regina, who, at such moments, would suddenly glare back at her.

"What?" Regina snapped.

"What?" Emma would answer.

A few hours before dawn, they've gone from deliriously buzzed to stone sober. Emma wordlessly stood and Regina took her hand.

When they got back to the roof, Emma followed Regina down the hall, but instead of tiptoing down to the backdoor, Emma stopped next to Regina's bedroom, and then opened the white door with one hand and strode inside. Regina followed her in, an eyebrow up, her mouth a straight line, not even daring to smile.

Emma turned to her and took her hand, and they slowly rose above the plush carpet. Regina's eyes blazed at her, her chin trembled, but she moved closer. Emma felt the gentle bump in the back of her head of the ceiling and let out a nervous laugh, her heart pounding in her ears. Like petals in spring time, clothes circled lazily to the floor.

Daytime felt like a dream. People talked to her and she found herself asking them to repeat themselves again and again. Her mind kept coloring outside the lines and she became very good and non-specific responses.

"You're out of it." Ruby grouched, wiping down the counter.

"Hahaha yeah." Emma checked her watch again. Still five hours at least until dusk.

The bell over the door clanged, Regina walked in, her smooth cap of hair pushed back from her imperious expression, a trenchcoat belted over a pristine pair of stockings and suede boots. She and Emma's eyes met and she moved to a back booth without looking in her direction.

"God, what is she doing here?" Ruby grumbled, grabbing a menu. "You think she'd take the hint already."

Emma gave her a half smile and threw down a few dollars next to her half-empty pie plate, striding out into the street, her stomach still reeling.

"Henry says you and Regina made him pancakes this morning." David was frying up steaks in a pan. Snow's knitting needles were clicking on the couch. Emma pulled off her headphones. Snow had asked her to stay in for dinner tonight, Emma had promised to stay with them until 8:30. It was killing her.

"Oh yeah…" Emma felt her mouth go dry and looked over at Henry, who smiled at her innocently and kept coloring one of the worksheets Snow had xeroxed for him from an old curriculum book. "You liked those, right kiddo?"

"They were the best pancakes ever." Henry nodded. "Except the last one you flipped too late. That one was kind of burnt."

She had woken up late that morning, limp in Regina's satin sheets, tangled in her arms, and the two of them had seized with panic, unsure how to handle it. They had stealthily dressed, gone down to the kitchen and prepared orange juice and bacon and pancakes to welcome Henry when he woke. It had been the kind of morning Emma had dreamed about in foster care. Henry didn't think to ask if Emma had slept over or shown up early. He was getting used to having both his moms in the house.

"Early to bed, early to rise I guess" David flipped over the steaks, with a smoky hiss the smell of red meat and grease flashed into the room. "You have been going to bed a lot earlier these last few weeks."

"I'm sort of exhausted." Emma smiled tightly, wondering if she'd have to actually tell this man he wasn't allowed to set a curfew for her.

"Where are you going tonight?" Snow asked, still clicking away, her eyes fixed on her mohair scarf she was expertly constructing.

"Hang out with Ruby."

"Huh. I thought tonight was a full moon?"

"Oh, is it?" Emma shrugged. "Well, I don't want to offend her by cancelling just because she might change."

"She'll understand. Or you know what, you could just have her come over here. I feel like I haven't seen her in the longest."

Emma smiled again, her heart sinking.

_Where are you?_

Emma had locked herself in the bathroom to answer the text message.

_I'm stuck with Snow and Charming right now. Its sort of awkward. I'll sneak out later._

No response.


	6. Chapter 6: Damn the Daylight

When Emma showed up at Regina's house the next night, Regina glared at her from the doorway and then silently let her in.

"I'm sorry about-"

"Forget it."

"Regina, I-"

"You're cutting into our airtime." Regina said tersely, and Emma grabbed her shoulders and stared in her eyes.

"Hey, let me apologize. I owe you that. I wanted to see you last night and it hurt that I couldn't."

Regina's face softened, one eyebrow lifting. "And you couldn't, because…" Emma tried to shake off her stare, but Regina moved, blocking her path , not letting her out of this.

Emma sighed. "Because I don't know how to explain what we're doing."

Regina shrugged. "We're flying."

"Well, I'm falling." Emma said huskily. "Regina, I'm falling in love with you."

They met in a kiss that sent them straight up to the ceiling, and both laughed when one of Emma's curls caught in the brass chandelier that looked over the front hall where they had stood.

* * *

"You know what I'd like to see?"

Emma looked up and down the length of the woman next to her. They were on the roof, watching the first light of dawn touch the sky, their hair still drying from their now nightly romp in the waterfall. The warm summer nights meant they could tumble as high as the clouds in just their bathing suits. When they got back, Regina had a pile of clothes to change into waiting, and she was now primly slipping a short black dress on and combing her fingers through her damp hair.

"You in the daylight?" Emma answered.

"I was going to say Storybrooke and the waterfall in the daylight. " She sighed. "Oh well. Can't have everything. Or anything, really." A tense chuckle, and the Mayor's chin rested on her knee while she gazed at Emma.

"What?" Regina snapped at last, breaking the reverent silence.  
"You're just so adorable with no make-up on." Emma glowed at her. "I mean, you're also stunning all done up and everything. I've never met someone who looks so good in make-up and so good with it off too."

Regina looked a little flustered. "This is part of what confuses me."

"What?"

"You always go running when I see you around town. And then when it's just the two of us, you're full of gallantry. You say things I can't get out of my head."

"Sometimes I get shy seeing you when we're… on earth, I guess."

Regina looked down, her eyes dark. "Something about daylight. It reminds you of all the things you want to forget."

"I don't want to forget anything about you. Don't think that for a moment."

Emma pulled the small, damp woman into her arms and kissed her neck, but Regina twisted away.

"Okay, okay, enough Miss Swan. You'll be late. Henry is going to be up in fifteen minutes, he's going to want breakfast, and then he's going to sound the alarm when he realizes you aren't curled up on the floor in that one room apartment with the rest of your family."

"Har har. We have three bedrooms."

Regina feigned a look of shock. The sky was streaked with orange gold color. The sun was coming up.

"Damn the daylight." Emma turned to Regina. "You really want to fly during the day? Let's do it."

Regina rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yes let's. I do so love it when the locals troop through my front yard with pitchforks, calling for an old-fashioned witch burning."

"Let 'em. I'm the Saviour, they can't exactly tear me to pieces. Let's fly to my apartment right now. Let's break in the window and take Henry and dare them to stop us. What are they really going to do? We're grown ups."

Regina shook her head and disappeared down the stairs into the house.

"I'm serious." Emma called down the stairs. "Regina, I'm serious. What would you say to me moving in with you? Me and Henry and you."

Light was creeping down the hall. All the make up had been washed by waterfall water and Emma's kisses from Regina's face, so Emma could see how the blood had rushed from her face at the question. Regina stood very still.

"I mean it, Regina, I'll pay you rent and everything. Let's just go break it to Snow and Charming and pack Henry up. I don't want to put this off another day-"

Regina walked back up the ladder to the roof and into Emma's arms, and they started moving up in the air, casting a solid purple silhouette on the roof below of a couple clinging to each other, a perfect blue silhouette moving across the green and gold-limned grass. Sunlight washed over their bodies and warmed Emma's arms, which circled the chilly column of Regina's waist. Day pierced Regina's eyes and gilded the outline of her small perfect features and a big, pure smile, one Emma had never seen before.

"I forgot how green your eyes can be." Regina murmured.

"God, Regina, if you could see what you look like right now. Let me see you." growled Emma.

Emma planted her feet on the roof and put out one arm, and weightlessly Regina swung from her hand and hovered over her as a balloon would, her entire figure suspended in air as she had been in Emma's long ago dream, her wild hair catching the light and fanning around her face, limbs lined in gold ,her smile filling her sparkling eyes, and suddenly with a shriek of pain she was torn from Emma's hand.

It happened so fast, it wasn't until Regina's hand had been knocked out of hers that Emma realized it was an arrow that had struck her. Emma shrieked but did not hear her own scream, seeing the long shaft of an arrow through Regina's side, gilded with sunlight. Now Regina was falling, no longer immune to gravity, hands reaching out to tear at the implacable sky. Without a second thought, Emma leapt off the roof, diving after her into thin air.

Either she would catch her and they'd fly, or they'd both fall. She could see Regina's eyes just a breath away from hers.

She felt her heart beat: duh dum.

Fly or fall, we do it together, Regina.

Her heart beat: duh-dum.

Suddenly, Regina disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, and with her last possible ounce of strength, Regina apparated herself into Emma's arms, her arms around Emma's neck.

Their heart beat: duh-dum.

And just like that, perhaps three feet from impact with the ground, they hovered together, Regina in Emma's arms, like two bubbles caught in the amber of golden dawn, hovering upside down above the bright green grass, clinging to each other, gently rotating in the warm morning air like some insane balloon.

duh dum.

"You've got me." Regina gasped, and fell slack in Emma's arms. Emma, with a surge of relief, pressed her lips against Regina's hair. She rose into the sky and saw their blue shadow, clear and distinct in the sunlight, falling upon Mary Margaret. The small woman was standing in Regina's yard, her pale face pinched and angry, her bow in one hand. How many times had she followed Emma? Was this the first time, or just the first time she had brought her bow? Emma gave her mother a blank look and shot into the sky, searching for the rooftop of Storybrooke hospital, holding Regina's body in her arms like a sleeping child, trying not to notice the dark blood spreading and seeping through both their shirts.

Emma leapt to her feet when Dr. Whale came into the small waiting room.

"We can't handle her injury here." Dr. Whale's face was ashen. "She's torn her liver, badly. It's out of my depth. We need to get her to a larger hospital in Portland."

Emma's heartbeat escalated. "Out of Storybrooke? Isn't there some kind of magic that can cure her here?"

"No one with any magic is going to help Regina." Dr. Whale said.

"I can help." Emma swallowed. "You saw what I did for Henry -"

"This isn't a sleeping curse that true love can cure, Emma. This is a very real, very mortal wound. She needs a major medical procedure that I don't have the equipment or experience to do. But I can't even get someone to drive her in an ambulance because no one wants to cross the town line."

"I can cross it." Emma whispered. "You know I can."

Dr. Whale crossed his arms. "Will you?"


	7. Chapter 7: Gravity Is A Prison

It was not a long drive, and Dr. Whale provided Emma with an ambulance driver's outfit so no one at the Portland hospital would question her. She didn't hear any disturbance when she crossed over the line, but she felt a sinking in her heart knowing what was happening, that the woman she knew as Regina was gone. She rubbed her sleeves across her eyes as she drove, a sick feeling in her stomach.

But if she lives. If she lives, it was worth it. I'll make it worth it.

Because she was dressed as an EMT Emma got to run alongside Regina's gurney as the Portland ER workers wheeled her in from the ambulance right up to the last minute. She crumpled into the waiting room, wishing she could kick out at the chairs and world around her her, head spinning, and turned the anger inward until she felt numb. She watched the sky grow dark outside a sealed-shut window. What dusk had meant, only 24 hours ago. Gravity seemed to pull at every inch of her.

Her face felt heavy. Her hands felt heavy. Her head felt heavy. She found herself leaning forward, elbows on knees, foot shaking below her, her bloodshot eyes trailing after inexpressive faces, until at last a nurse approached her.

"You were waiting on the Jane Doe from Storybrooke, yes?

"Regina. Her name is Regina. Was her procedure alright?"

"Procedure?" the nurse looked at her blankly. "We just had to change her bandages. Whatever hit her just caused a flesh wound. She has lost a lot of blood though and the shock- well, the shock seems to have affected her memory-"

Emma felt the world swirl around her. The bleary hospital lighting, the tinny sounds that represented heartbeats and breath, the astringent smell of cleaners that barely masked the pitiful smells of sick bodies. It all pressed in and spun around Emma as she fought to keep her composure.

She'd done to Regina what she swore she wouldn't do. She'd dragged her across the line. She'd been tricked. She'd been fooled. She stumbled after the nurse, feeling her gut twist as she went down the hall toward an open doorway.

Regina looked small and girlish, sitting up in bed, looking at a try of Jell-O with a woozy stare. She turned to the door and her eyes fell dully on Emma.

"This is your ambulance driver from Storybrooke." The nurse said. "She says your name is Regina."

"Oh." Regina blinked. "Regina?" she blinked again. "Well, thank you for that, I guess." She stared at Emma, her brow furrowed. " And your name is…?"

* * *

Henry met Emma with a long hug.

"I'm not staying here, kiddo, I'm just going to pack up some of my things and some of your mom's things before I drive back. Hey-" she knelt down to eye level and dropped her voice. " And some of your things, you get me, kid? You're coming with me." He nodded, and leaned forward.

"By the way, Snow wants to talk to you." He jerked his head towards the stairs to the second floor of the loft apartment. Emma's jaw clenched.

"I want to talk to her too… How about if you run along to Regina's place and start packing your stuff now and I'll see you there?"

Henry nodded and crept away, leaving his exhausted mother to climb the iron stairs to where Snow was sharpening her arrows.

"So that's doing the right thing?" Emma's voice was cold. "Lying and manipulating people into doing what you want, that's 'good' in your book?" Snow turned around, her cheeks burning, her small shoulders lifting up and down, pre-emptively enraged.

"Emma, you need to trust me when I say what I did was the only thing I could do to keep our family safe. I know Regina. I know her because she half raised me. And hunted me as a grown woman. And kept me a captive for 28 years."

"Did she ever shoot you with an arrow?" Emma asked coolly.

"It's just a flesh wound. I was careful not to aim anywhere that would mortally harm her. We just needed to get her across the line and out of Storybrooke."

Emma looked at her coldly, Snow continued, as though desperate to fill the silence between them. "You think I wanted to trick you? I didn't want that Emma. But there was only one way to get you to agree to help us. I couldn't ask someone else to drive her across the line. I had to think of what was best for everyone, not just me. Not just you."

Emma still says nothing. She leaves the room and goes to her own bedroom, pulling her clothes out of the closet and stuffing them into a backpack. Snow stood in the doorway, her forehead crease deepening, her voice getting more shrill. " In some respects I've been easier on her than on myself. She has a clear conscience now. A clean slate."

Emma threw her bag over her shoulder and walked past her mother ,who followed after her, now screaming. "Where do you think you're going, Emma? You're just running again, is that it? How can you?! You're the Saviour, remember?"

"Yeah, I am. And I think I finally understand who needs saving."

* * *

Emma got Henry settled in their hotel room before heading to the hospital. She also stopped at a market and got a bouquet of flowers- daisies and baby's breath seemed less threatening than violently red roses from a stranger. And she is, after all, a total stranger now. Would Regina even want flowers from her? Should she explain right away: hey, I think you loved me. I told you I loved you and you seemed happy about it. We used to fly together. Should she explain fairy tale land? Or stick to the Regina she met: you were a Mayor. Of a town you can never go back to. I'm our kid's mom. His name is Henry.

The thought of taking Henry to see Regina and having Regina smile at him distantly slices clean through her. She gasps a little merely sitting at the wheel of her car at the thought. One of the things she's always loved most in this world is hearing Regina call Henry's name with that unmistakable sound of fierce love and protection, the maternal possessiveness she'd never experienced. How long, if ever, until she hears that again? Who will tell her about the way Henry was as a baby? How many of those precious stories are gone forever now?

Emma walks to the hospital doorway. The bed is empty, a nurse is pulling the clean sheets taut at the corners.

"Where's Regina?" she blurts to the staffer changing sheets, who shrugs. At the front desk, a woman in a pale blue sweater smiles in a matronly way, and out of her mouth comes the worst thing in the world:

"Regina Gold? She was signed out this morning. Her husband came to pick her up about an hour ago."


	8. Chapter 8: The Other Side of Town

_Context Note: this story takes place pre-Lacey universe, when Belle is still an amnesiac._

* * *

Emma had learned when she was looking for people that sooner or later, they would always return home. But for most people, home wasn't a place. It was a person. For Mr. Gold, that person was Belle. Emma wasn't sure who was in on Snow and Dr. Whale's scheme. David, probably. She called Ruby first and asked her to sit with Belle. Ruby was checking in on her most days anyway, so it wasn't too crazy a thing to ask.

"Don't let her out of your sight. If shows up, keep him there. Say whatever you've got to say. Text me and keep him there."

"Okay Emma…do you want to tell me why?"

"Mr. Gold is up to something. Just trust me Ruby, please."

"Okay. Okay. I'll stay here until visiting hours end, I promise."

Neal had agreed to take Henry for a few days, even offering to drive up and get him from the hotel. Emma trusted Henry to sit in the room and wait for Neal's call. She couldn't afford to wait minutes, let alone the hours until Neal arrived in Maine. By then, Rumple would have gotten too far. Emma stooped to kiss Henry's forehead, and he gripped her sleeve, pulling a long envelope from his bookbag.

"Before you go- I found this in one of my mom's- in one of Regina's jackets we brought up." he gestured to the bag of clothes Emma had brought for Regina. "I don't know, maybe it will help."

It was a letter written out in Regina's neat, flowing script, a school picture of Henry's closed inside.

"This must be the letter she wrote herself before she tried to fly over the cliff in the woods that day…this is what she wanted to remember." Emma's eyes moved over the dense lines, her heart in her throat, and tucked it absently into the front of her jacket. "There's no time to read it now but thanks kiddo. I'll see you soon, okay? Keep the door locked and don't step out of this room unless Neal is with you, even if Snow or Charming show up, okay? Neal should be here in a couple of hours."

Henry nodded. "You'll find her. It's going to be okay."

Emma got the make and license plate of Gold's rental from the front desk of the nearest luxury hotel- her first guess, and compliant enough after she flashed her badge- and called it in to the Portland police, giving them her personal cell. "No official dispatch radio at this time." She told a highway patrol official. "But subject is suspected of kidnapping at this time. Will most likely be on smaller highway North toward shore."

"Roger that…" she heard a crackle of static. "Sure enough Sheriff Swan, vehicle with License Plate STRY457 has been spotted Northbound highway I-95." Emma thanked the officer and hung up to better handle the Bug's wheel as she gained in speed. She fully expected she'd be topping the speed limit zooming towards Storybrooke by at least twenty miles.

* * *

Emma saw Gold's car about ten miles out from the town line, and with a roar started silver-fishing her way through the lanes of the small Maine highway. She kept five car lengths between them, hoping he wouldn't notice her and make an evasive manuevers. Her phone went off and she lifted it to her ear without taking her eyes from his bumper.

"Hi, its Ruby- Dr. Whale just made me leave the hospital. He said he had to get Belle ready to be released, that she's cured."

"Is she?"

"He says Mr. Gold's figured out some kind of dark magic loophole to get Belle's memory back. Something about if someone crosses the line on one side of town, they can get their memories back if someone else crosses the line on the other side of town."

"There is no other line, Ruby. There's that freaking chasm out in the middle of the woods and the ocean. So basically he's talking about murder. Do you get it?! He's going to murder Regina to get Belle's memory back." Emma hung up on the call and slammed on the accelerator, her heart in her throat. She had checked the town line on her Sheriff's map just a few weeks before, after the first time she rescued Regina clinging to the cliff in the woods, before they realized they could fly. Storybrooke's town line was drawn on the map to follow the ravine almost a mile below the ridge of that terrible cliff, so theoretically, if you drew it in the air above the ravine, it would run down the very center of the space that yawned in the middle of the forest.

Cars fell behind her as she changed from lane to lane. Gold's car was also speeding insanely, hurtling across lane lines, the trees around them a green blur. What was he telling Regina inside that car? How terrified she must be. Emma's own senses felt heightened with adrenaline and primal fear, but she tried to channel it into laser sharp focus. She was fully prepared to crash into his bumper if she had to to stop him crossing the line into a realm where he could use his magic. She could see the Welcome to Storybrooke sign looming ahead as both cars tore down the little-traveled exit.

As soon as Mr. Gold's car crossed the line, it flickered into invisibility. "Nice try, you son of a bitch." She muttered. "I know exactly where you're going."

Sure enough, when she tried to park her bug into the closest parking space to the trail that lead off to the far woods, her car crashed heavily into an invisible metal object. The VW Bug shuddered and smoke started billowing from the hood. "Well, we had a good run." Emma muttered to herself, hopping out of the car. The trail to the chasm in the woods, Mr. Gold would be somewhere along it, Regina with him. Hopefully fighting him. Or being lead innocently along like a lamb to the slaughter. Emma felt her legs burn as she leapt over roots and dashed up the steep trail, her heart thumping violently in her chest, scanning the green brush for any sign of color. She could scream out for Regina, but then Regina wouldn't recognize her voice. And she'd lose what little element of surprise she had.

There were the little pools where she and Henry had examined puddle creatures. Off in the distance, she could hear their waterfall rushing. _Do you hear our waterfall, Regina? Will I be the only one to dream of those nights all the rest of my life?_

She had to push aside the pain and hurry. She sped down a twist in the path, sensing rather than seeing the cliffs up ahead. And there, casting a long shadow over the path, Mr. Gold- his hand in a vice-like grip around Regina's arm. Regina was stumbling after him, looking around her in confusion.

"Stop!" Emma screamed. "Gold, Stop. Don't do this."

Mr Gold turned to see her lazily. He sighed. "Ah, Emma. You don't want to be here for this. I've got something I must do, and then we can talk."

Emma's heart seized looking at Regina. The dark haired woman's eyes were wide and horrified, her face confused as a sleepwalker's. She was still wearing a hospital gown under Gold's long coat, her hair in her eyes. She looked like a different person.

"Gold, you know I won't let you hurt Regina."

"Ah, but she's not Regina, is she?" Gold cocked his head, and gave the brunette next to him a little shake. "She's just a husk of what Regina was, and I should know. I'm saving you a lot of heartache. I've had to see Belle cringe in fear of me for the last few months and believe me, you don't want to know how it feels."

Emma walked closer towards them, her arms out, trying to maintain eye contact with Regina, who was cringing from Mr. Gold. And, it seemed, cringing from her as well, looking between the two of them with increasing panic on her face.

"The ambulance driver?" Regina said.

Mr. Gold laughed hideously. "You see what I mean? She loves you, Regina. Do you love her?"

"I-I don't know her." Regina took a step back, toward the cliff. Mr. Gold g rabbed her arm again.

"Now now! We don't want you falling just short of the town line. You must exactly cross the perimeter of Storybrooke before you die, dearie. That's a must."

And with a snap of Gold's fingers, Regina was hovering in mid-air, dead center over the middle of the chasm, right on the town line- at least a mile above ground.


	9. Chapter 9: The Last Flight

Emma ran to Gold, her hands in fists, but she knew she had no power to stop him. She could see the smile spread on his face, and his outstretched hand make a quick motion, and Regina, hovering in the air, screaming in uncomprehending terror- Regina, who had no magic left. Regina, who would never fly again. Regina, who didn't even know who she was.

She felt her heartbeat in her ears. The moment on the roof came back to her, and it took her as little time now as it did before to make the same decision.

_Flying or falling, we do it together Regina._

The blonde woman leapt into the air the exact moment the brunette started hurtling downwards, her arms outstretched. Regina, stripped of magic and memories, couldn't apparate into her arms this time. Emma's body was screaming in every sense as the ground flew up to meet them, wind shrieking in her ears, wind tearing tears out of her eyes. But Emma kicked her legs and stretched her arms, willing herself to fall a little faster so she could reach Regina's trailing hand.

_We got one last flight_, she thought. _So help me God let me just be grateful for that._

Their fingers touched, and the two women suddenly stopped falling.

They were floating in space, hovering on the town line.

"It's not possible!" the words came out of Emma's mouth. Regina, looking at her through sobs, reached her other arm towards Emma, and Emma pulled the shaking figure closer to her, crumpling her up in her arms, Regina still not recognizing her but clutching at her arms, looking down at the rocky ravine just ten feet below them where they had been about to land, with chattering teeth.

"How are you doing this?!" Regina sobbed.

"I don't know." Emma whispered.

"Don't let me go." Regina pleaded, and she was shaking like a bird in Emma's arms.

"Never." Emma answered, honestly. Remembering with pure joy how to move when they were flying like this, she caught Regina up in her arms and rose back up, up, up to the edge of the chasm, where Mr. Gold was staring in shock and disbelief.

Emma reached out a hand and grabbed his lapels, pulling him off the ledge with one clean jerk that got him while he was still stunned by the sight of her. Maybe he'd remember, through his shock, to apparate himself back to safety. Maybe he wouldn't. Emma didn't really care.

Emma landed on the roof of Regina's house and walked her quickly down to the hallway into the safety of her kitchen. Regina looked around terrified. "Is this your house?"

"No, it's yours…" Regina followed Emma to her kitchen, looking around her, seeing all her surroundings for the first time. "Am I… rich?"

"I think so?" Emma tore off her jacket and filled a glass with water. "Look, we can't stay here too long. I'm just going to find your car keys and we're going to get the hell out of here."

"Okay…" Regina looked at her strangely, putting the kitchen island between them, her muscles tensed, her hands slightly up. "Can I trust you? Because my husband-"

"That -man -wasn't your husband. "

"Well, that explains a lot." Emma's heart lifted at Regina's tone. It had a little of that sardonic swagger that had initially caught Emma's interest. Regina was looking down at Emma's jacket. She pulled a slightly crumpled white envelope from the inside breast pocket. "What's this?"

Emma looked at the envelope with recognition. "That is actually a letter to you from you… my- our son wanted you to have it."

"Our son?" Regina's eyes were blank. She pulled out the letter and unfolded it. Emma watched for the picture of Henry to fall out, but it did not.

"That's weird, there should be a picture…" Emma watched Regina's face blush as she read it. "Would you read it out loud?"

Regina looked up, her eyes large. "Your name is Emma, right?"

Emma nodded.

Regina cleared her throat and read:

"Dear Regina, If you are reading this, you've successfully lost all your memories. Believe me, it's a blessing. Your experiences made you harder than you needed to be. Crueler and more scared of the world. Unable to connect with people you cared about, even your own son Henry. He's the most important thing. Always. And you must find him again, and make him see that. About his mother, Emma Swan…"

Regina looked up at her, cheeks burning, and continued. "…hopefully erasing your memories also means you no longer remember how you used to feel about her. She's a handful, but you can trust her. To look after Henry until you can, to protect you from your enemies. If you still feel weirdly drawn to her and powerfully attracted to her, fight it as best you can."

Emma's heart thudded in her chest. Regina had had a crush on her!? Before they even knew they could fly together?! "Did losing your memories erase that um…'powerful attraction'?"

Regina blinked a little, the letter fluttering in her hand, and went back to reading with a little waver in her voice. "…I'm not sure if memories will ever return, or how complete the memory loss will be, so I'll just say this: There's no such thing as magic. However. If you ever need some magic, the picture of your son, Henry, inside this letter holds one last, one powerful charm. It will return your magic to you for one last time. Use it wisely."

"But there's no picture-" Regina looked in the envelope to make sure. "I don't see it anywhere."

"I think we used it." Emma answered.


End file.
